


Sherlock's First Adventure

by exavier



Category: Sherlock - Fandom
Genre: Other, sherlock's first adventure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:40:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27326713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exavier/pseuds/exavier
Summary: Sherlock and Mycroft's cousin reflects on what it's like being related to the Holmes brothers. He also remembers the first mystery Sherlock ever solved back when the three of them were children.Just an old thing I found in my drafts
Kudos: 1





	Sherlock's First Adventure

  1. Mr Sherlock Holmes - My Cousin



I was reading the Sherlockian Times one morning in December. It was always a pleasure to stay at home in your living room, drinking tea in front of your fireplace and enjoy the cozy warmness of your home while it’s all cold outside.

My sweet stupor was disturbed by a quick knock on the front door, my housekeeper and then footsteps up the stairs. It takes precisely 17 steps up to get to the second floor. The door was rapidly opened. I welcomed my cousin – Sherlock Holmes.

“A fine morning indeed!” he gasped, “I am in terrible trouble!”

My cousin was living a couple of houses away from me. His address was 221B Baker Street and mine was 227A Baker Street. We were neighbors! It was very convenient for Sherlock since he was free to pop in any time of the day (or the night – my cousin was a peculiar fellow). He was living with his close friend and colleague Dr. John Watson – a very sweet and capable young man. They were roommates and best friends. But there was also a secret that only I knew about!

Dr. Watson was so fond of my cousin’s profession that he started documenting all of his unique adventures. Some adventures indeed! Sherlock was a consulting detective! He was constantly surrounded by mysteries! And he was a mystery himself, that crazy chap!

So every time there was a “situation „Sherlock came to me. I was the closest – with Dr. Watson being a tell-it-all and his brother all the way to the Diogenes Club (a lovely place, by the way) I was his best option! So it was easy to deduce that my dear cousin has another of his untold cases to discuss with me…

“What is the matter now, Sherlock?” I asked while offering him a cup of tea.

“I looked everywhere and it’s gone! I lost it, Miles!” Sherlock said.

“So surprised you didn’t tell Dr. Watson!” I smiled calmly.

“I love my dear friend but he’d probably write it in a story and have everyone reading about it in no time!”Sherlock said.

I nodded. What my dear cousin didn’t know was that I was documenting my own recollections of his cases… and here they are now…

  1. The Story of the REALLY First Case of Sherlock Holmes



Now, Dr. Watson tells the story of my cousin’s first case in his recollection called … He tells it the way Sherlock told it to him. The story is most intriguing! What they both fail to do is, though, is to actually tell the story of the real first case!

For some reasons or others, my dear cousin has forgotten to mention his absolutely first case to his friend. I suppose he might have forgotten it himself! After all, he was only a boy at the time of these events. And I being 5 years his senior and his cousin do remember it as though it was yesterday…

But I shall get into that later. Now I should better listen to Sherlock’s problem.

“What’s bothering you, old chap?” I asked.

“I am pretty sure I placed it in my drawer! I know Watson won’t touch anything in there! And now it’s gone, it’s gone! It’s all gone!” Sherlock said as annoyed as can be.

No, I should first tell you his childhood case! As a child I used to spend almost every summer with my uncle and aunt. So I had time to get to know my two cousins!

My cousins were 14 and 7 at the time of the first case. I was, therefore, 12. I was a very friendly child!

“Hello, cousin Mycroft! How are you feeling today?” I was smiling like a fool.

Cousin Mycroft being the oldest looked at me, smiled and then went off. Probably to his room or the library; at that time he used to spend a lot of time in these two rooms. Come to think of it, he didn’t change that much…

I could never get Mycroft to talk – he was always avoiding people. I don’t even know what he was doing but he was always inside the house. It was very difficult to get him out of the house!

I then moved on to cousin Sherlock.

“What are you doing, Sherlock?” he was obviously making an eye patch.

“You want to be a pirate?” I asked

“What’s wrong with that?” he asked

“Nothing. Only that it’s silly!” I said.

Now, you readers, should not think me rude or bully or anything like it! I had noticed that Sherlock was a very solitary and unusually serious boy for his age. But every time he was teased or annoyed he got extremely energetic and lively. That is why I wanted to keep him that way. You could say I was challenging him; and he liked it! Believe you me, he liked it a lot!

As we were teasing each other in the living room, we were both stunt by a loud scream!

  1. The Game is Afoot! Or Did I accidentally step on your foot?



It was a woman’s scream and it came from the kitchen! Little Sherlock came closer to me.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” I asked. “Are you frightened?”

“I’m not…!” and he hugged me even more tightly.

We both went to see Mycroft and tell him of the scream and how it frightened us.

“If it has frightened you, go and check what it is!” Mycroft said calmly as he was reading his book.

“But the boy is really scared, Mycroft!” I said. I liked that young fellow Sherlock and I knew his brother would be the only one who could make him feel better.

“If you don’t see what it is, it’ll only frighten you again!” he replied.

As the words left his lips another loud hysterical scream was heard all around the house!

Sherlock cried again: “Make it stop!” he said.

“It’ll only go on if you ignore it… now please, boys, be quiet!” Mycroft said again as he sat even more comfortably in his armchair in the library.

I must admit I wanted to punch his face at that moment! I tried to hug Sherlock again to see how he was feeling but this time he just gently pushed me away.

“Come!” the little boy said quickly.

We both left the library leaving Mycroft to his books.

“Where are we going?” I asked Sherlock as he took a strange new corridor that I didn’t know existed in the house.

“You’ll see!” he said as serious as ever.

We were going through some darker places in the Holmes ancestral home. Brrr! It was really damp and cold in there!

“Maybe someone sneezed and that’s what we heard before!” I said trying to distract him.

But nothing could distract him now! I’ve never seen this child more concentrated and determined in my entire life!

“We’re here!” Sherlock said. The echo made his words sound really creepy!

“Wwwwhere are wwwe?” I asked all shaking inside but trying to look brave.

Sherlock opened a huge door and lots of light busted right in our eyes.

“The kitchen!” little Sherlock said proudly.

“Oh!” I muttered. “That’s not that scary! Ha-ha…”

“The screams came from here!” Sherlock said.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Well, I… I think so…” he muttered.

We went into the kitchen to investigate. Our findings were astonishing! The first thing we noticed was blood all over the floor!

  1. Is this your blood?



As I saw the blood on the floor I felt a little dizzy! My eyes immediately turned towards Sherlock! The boy was only 7 years old! He looked a bit uneasy at first but then suddenly as if remembering something little Sherlock stepped bravely into the kitchen!

Along with the blood there were a couple of broken dishes on the floor, little pieces of food and a big knife also covered with little blood. It must have been very chilly because I shivered all over.

“Sherlock, let’s go back!” I said. I was worried about the poor child. “There’s nothing to see here!”

“No, wait!” Sherlock stopped me. “What do you think happened here, Miles?”

“Well, I don’t really want to find out, Sherlock! Just let’s go, alright?”

But he did not seem to be that eager to leave the scene of the crime! On the contrary, he looked as though he was both terrified and fascinated by it.

“Sherlock!” I whispered. “Whatever happened here, we should go! Come on!”

“But we must know what happened!” Sherlock insisted as he was looking at the floor and the knife.

“Don’t touch that!” I said. “It may be a murder weapon! Whatever happened, they’ll tell us later! Now we’d better go!”

Sherlock gave a sign and followed me back through the damp corridor and into the study where we were before.

He looked so absorbed in his own thoughts that I got worried about him. Sherlock was never an extremely talkative child but this unusual stupor was new for him.

“Are you alright?” I asked. I thought the blood had frightened him; he was only 7 years old, after all!

“You’re wrong!” Sherlock said.

“Ha?”

“Before! When you said it might be a murder weapon! You were wrong!”

“Are you still thinking about that? Don’t think about that, Sherlock! Let’s play a game or something!”

“The game is afoot, Miles!” he shouted.

“Ha?”

“I can find out what happened in the kitchen!” he smiled. “It came to me when you said the knife was a murder weapon! But it wasn’t! And the scene there had nothing to do with murder at all! It wasn’t frightening, Miles! I was afraid of something that wasn’t frightening at all!”

“You should rest!” I did not understand him at all. I admit it; I was a fool.

“I don’t need to rest!” he insisted with his high-pitched child’s voice. “This may actually be the most exciting thing ever to happen in our house!”

“I think you’re going a wee bit too far, young man!”

“I’m not your “young man”! You’re 12!”

I left him in his room and went to fetch Mycroft who usually took care of him. But when we returned to Sherlock’s room the boy was not there! He was missing…

  1. Whose blood was it anyway?!



I was so worried that I told Mycroft everything. He did not seem as worried as me.

“And you only called me all the way here for that?!” he said calmly as usual.

“But you don’t understand! First there was this scream! Then, blood on the kitchen floor! And a knife! And now Sherlock’s not here!”

“So what are you implying?”

“Maybe someone’s entered the house and… kidnapped Sherlock!”I said.

“Interesting! And the blood in the kitchen?”

“Perhaps the cook saw him and the murderer had to kill her!” I was feeling awful just saying these words.

Mycroft was all ice.

“Mhm…”he nodded his head. “Interesting! And who do you think did all that?”

“I… well, I don’t really know, do I…”I said feeling desperate. “Poor Sherlock!”

Finally I was annoyed with Mycroft’s lack of emotion so I burst into shouting.

“How can you just stand there pretending to think about it when there’s been a murder in your house and your little brother is possibly kidnapped? This is a real mystery!”

“And I solved it!”

It was Sherlock who came into his room with a big proud smile on his face.

“Now, if you join me in the kitchen, I’ll explain it all!”

“You, boys, are all determined to waste my time today…” Mycroft gave a sigh as we followed Sherlock.

I was just happy he was alright! And a bit nervous to go in that kitchen again…

When we got to the kitchen, Sherlock was more excited than ever! I’ve never seen him that way before.

“You see, it looks as though a horrible tragedy occurred here but in fact it was a mere little domestic incident!” Sherlock began showing us around the kitchen. “First, let’s take the murder weapon!”

“Please, let’s not!” I muttered but no-one paid any attention to me.

“It is obvious that no one could kill with that knife without covering it with lots of blood! There are only a couple of drops here! Therefore, this knife had probably made a small cut that was not a reason for… well, death! Then, look at the blood on the floor!”

“I think I’m about to throw up…”

“There are footsteps visible in it!” he pointed them to us and I looked away. “This is too small a footstep to be a man’s! Therefore, it’s a woman’s! Mrs. Ports, our cook, is famous for her small feet! Those must be her footsteps! And last but not least, the dishes!”

“Obviously, they were thrown at the attacker! What other defense could poor Mrs. Ports find?!” I said.

“What about the dishes, Sherlock?”Mycroft asked, ignoring my words.

“If she aimed the attacker the dishes would have been all over the kitchen! And so would the food on them! But these dishes are all in one place! And so is the food!”

“So?”

“So, the dishes were simply dropped on the floor! Possibly caused by Mrs. Ports’ surprise! What could have caused her to startle like that in the kitchen while she was holding a knife and the dishes? A mouse!”

“A mouse?” I asked, surprised. “You mean this was caused by a mouse; we got so worried over a mouse?”

“Yes.” Sherlock said proudly and started to enact the event. “You see, here’s where the cheese was placed at the time of the “attack”; here is where Mrs. Ports was preparing the meal; the mouse was attracted by the cheese; Mrs. Ports then turns aside to move the dishes and sees the mouse on the table; she is startled and drops the dishes! She then grabs the first thing that came in her hand – the knife…”

“So the rat died?” I asked.

“Well, I am not certain about that… you can see that the action was moved to another room and then the traces just disappear… “Sherlock said, looking serious. “I think it’s more likely that Mrs. Ports cut her finger either on the knife or on the broken dishes. Knowing her I think she will probably miss a mouse if she ever tries to really kill one…”

“But all this blood couldn’t be because of a little cut!” I said.

“But it isn’t blood!” Sherlock smiled widely. “Or at least, not all of it! Most of the “blood” on the floor is in fact food that looks… reddish… You can taste it if you want!”

“No, thanks! Not hungry!” I said quickly.

“In fact, the only red blood is on the knife. And it’s too little to imply a serious and deep injury!”

Soon Mrs. Ports returned to the kitchen and told us that a mouse scared her and she accidentally cut her hand on the knife while trying to “get the wretched thing!” however, it managed to escape and she had to go take care of her hand.

“Oh, good!” Mycroft sighed with relief. “So everything’s fine and we can go back to our normal activities!”

I then thought that would be the end of the case. But it wasn’t…

  1. The final explanation



It was later that very same day that the case of the bloody kitchen was revealed in its entirety.

Sherlock, Mycroft and I were together in the living room. Sherlock was writing the details of his new discoveries in a special new journal he had found earlier; Mycroft was reading a book near the fireplace and I was observing them.

Suddenly Mrs. Ports entered the room.

“Boys! I found the wretched thing!” She said.

We all got curious, even Mycroft!

“And?”

“Turns out it was your pet mouse! You should be more careful how you lock it, Mr. Mycroft!” she said “Scared me so much today! Anyway, it’s been captured and put in its cage again! Though, why do you keep it, I cannot understand.”

It is appropriate if I explained about Mycroft’s pet mouse. Mycroft had a pet mouse. Here, I explained it! He had that mouse for about a week now and he kept it in a special cage. It was a peculiar breed of mouse and it was so rare! I think it was the only kind in the district! Mycroft told us he was observing its behavior. He rarely let us play with the little creature.

Upon the mention of his mouse, Mycroft sort of sank into his armchair. Sherlock had a strange expression on his face. He came closer to Mycroft and looked deeply into his blue-grayish eyes.

“So your mouse was THE mouse…”the boy said.

“Turns out so, doesn’t it.” Mycroft replied with a smile.

“And you forgot to lock the cage, I suppose?” Sherlock asked.

“Probably yes…”Mycroft replied.

“But you are always so careful! How did you forget to lock it this time?”Sherlock looked really funny – a small boy like him, filled with all the seriousness in the world, trying to look intimidating to its 14 year old brother! You should have seen him!

“You put the mouse in the kitchen, Mycroft! Why did you do it?” Sherlock asked again.

“How did you come to that conclusion, Sherlock?” Mycroft asked him.

“I’ll tell you how!” the boy said getting more excited every second. “First, we don’t usually have mice! Second, you never leave the cage open – you are too protective of your possessions, including the mouse! And third, the mouse could not get out of your room (with the door closed!) and come all the way down to the kitchen (on the other side of the house!). That’s how I know! You did it all, didn’t you! On purpose! I don’t understand you, Mycroft! I don’t understand you at all!”

And little Sherlock stormed out of the room.

I was shocked. This was an interesting afternoon and despite all its weirdness I enjoyed it. But I had yet another question to ask.

“Is he right, Mycroft?” I asked when we were left alone.

Mycroft nodded.

“So it really was you who put the mouse in the kitchen?”

He nodded again.

“Alright, that is pretty clear now… why?”

Mycroft smiled.

“Look how happy he was!” he said. “I put the mouse in the kitchen in hope that Mrs. Ports would make a scene and there would be some kind of accident that would make my brother curious. And it did! I’m happy it all went the way it did. He now has a new hobby to keep him occupied. And it’ll also distract him from… well, you know what… He is also not afraid anymore!” Mycroft leaned back in his armchair, opening his book again; he then said with a smile “Yes, buying this mouse was definitely the best investment I ever made!”

THE END ? 


End file.
